My enthusiasm for underwater photography leads me to often share interesting experiences and stories with fellow scuba divers and photographers. My cousin, Shie, sent me this image and story to post. Quite remarkable, and just as annoying:
“I was SCUBA diving off the shore of Catalina Island in a place called
Casino Point, a fellow diver found an octopus hiding in the rocks.
The diver got the octopus out of the rocks, and it swam frantically
trying to find shelter. It happened to swim straight for another
diver, and landed on him, where it rested for a moment. That diver
quickly grabbed the octopus to play with it, or look at it, and
naturally the terrified creature tried to get away. It quickly
escaped with a quick jet, only to be immediately surrounded by a
school of hungry fish. I took this photo a split second before the
octopus met its unfortunate demise as it was caught by a Kelp Bass.”
“Unfortunately divers often bring food to attract fish, and so they
have learned that when people release something it’s food. Because
this octopus was mishandled and was escaping a diver, the school of
fish thought it was food and attacked it.“When enquiring about the technical nature of this remarkable image (taken using an Olympus SP-550UZ), Shie said: “It was a crazy situation. I couldn’t believe the photo when I saw it after. I was facing the other direction when all the commotion started. I turned around a realized what was happening and as soon as I saw the octopus jet away from the instructor I snapped the picture – it’s the only one I got of the whole thing. Lucky shot.”Appreciating what amazing creatures octopuses are, I decided to add a portrait I took on Aug 4th, in Eilat (Red Sea), of another octopus, hopefully still whole and healthy.
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